Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Charter school expansion in NYC: common ground or battleground?

Past ads for Eva's charters ((DNAinfo)

According
to today's New York Times, the Gates Foundation is giving $25 million to seven
cities, including NYC, to encourage charter-district “collaboration.” The Gates
spokesperson claims, “It’s pretty clear there is more common ground than
battleground.”Of course,
the pro-charter, pro-privatization Gates people would like to convince NY Times
readers and the public at large that this is true.

Unfortunately,
the Times reporter did not feature any quotes from New York City parents or advocates
who might have a different perspective.

From
today’s Daily
News, the relationship seems like a battleground still; though
one in which the charter schools get preferential treatment from their patron, DOE.Eva Moskowitz demands science labs for all
her Success Academy charter elementary school kids; but at-risk HS students will
lose their science lab as well as their gym in the Brandeis HS building
because she wants to expand her school into their territory. As a result,
students from the Diploma Plus High School are being pushed out into a leased building in Washington
Heights without these facilities.

Truly, the situation in NYC is like a “Middle
East war” as Eva
herself put it years ago, saying "Dividing land ain't pretty”.Especially when like Eva, you have unlimited resources, political pull, and ruthless expansionism in
your sights.

3 comments:

Michael Fiorillo
said...

In the eyes of corporate education reformers, we can have common ground, as long as the rest of us do whatever they say: all testing all the time, teacher evaluations based on those endless tests, merit pay, wanton closing of public schools and the diversion of funds to privately-run charters and online "academies," the neutering of unions...

Yes, we can get along, as long as you allow us to profit off your destruction.

There must be an end to the corporate welfare Eva Moskowitz and her for profit charters are profitting from No more co-locations, all schools must have a facility of their own. For profit charters must not be subsidized by public funds. She's paid a third of a million a year. No more from the public coffers.

Contact key education policymakers

Contact Board of Regents members' emails below.Click here to find your StateSenator; here for your AssemblymemberClick here to find your City Council member; click here to see contact information for Council members on Education CommitteeFor all your elected reps, click hereSpeaker Carl Heastie